Improvement in skirt-lifters for ladiesj dresses



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

L. C. PENNELL, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SKIRT-METERS FOR LADIES DREss'Es.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 59,640, dated November 13, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, L. G. PENNELL, of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and Improved Skirt-Lifter for Ladies Dresses; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others to make and use my invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l shows a side view of a hoop-skirt with my invention attached, also a portion of a dress-skirt, showing the method of operation Fig. 2, a view ofthe ring to be attached to the dressskirt.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and convenient method of raising the skirts of a dress evenly and retaining the same in tha-t position.

My invention consists in attaching to the hoop-skirt, first, a tag near the waistband thereof, so that it shall be beneath the opening in the skirt of the dress that is usually made on the left side in the gathers near the waist. In this tag are made several holes, for the purpose hereinafter' set forth.

At or near midway between the top and bottom of the hoopfskirt are attached several other tags, one on each tape of the skirt. In each of these tags is made a single hole. a shows the tag iirst mentioned, having the several holes, and b b b the others, having one each.

Through the holes in the tag a pass cords, two in the hole n, and one in each of the others. These cords are united on the outside of the tag, as illustrated in the drawings. They then pass down on the inner side of the skirt till they reach the tags b b 11', when they are run through the holes in these tags, and then hang down on the outside of the hoop-skirt.

I intend there shall be one cord foreach tape of the hoop-skirt.

In the drawings, l 2 3 4 show cords, and c d e tapes, in this view of a hoopskirt. Some of the cords, in order to reach their appropriate tapes, will first run in a horizontal direction, and then descend on the inside of the tapes to the tags thereon, as is seen at g in the drawings.

For further example, the cord 4, running horizontally, may pass through a hole in the tape d, coming through to the outside, then through e, going on the inside, and then dropping on the inside to the tag b'.

"On the lower ends of the cords are attached loops, rings, or small buttons. These are seen at h. Upon the inner side of the dressskirt are attached rings, one set some distance above the other, as has been done in other cases. These are seen, the upper ones in a vertical line over the lower ones, at i i'. The form of these rings is seen in Fig. 2.

The parts k m are intended to be pressed apart, so as to admit the cords l 2 3 et, and to allow of the removal of the cords in the same manner, the rings on the ends ofthe cords holding them otherwise within the ring, Fig. 2. These rings have a loop attached to them, by means of which they can be secured to the inner side of the dress-skirt, or they may be secured by a band.

I do not intend to limit myself to any described arrangement of the cords, except that they unite in the tag a, in the manner described, coming through the holes, and descend inside the hoop-skirt to the tags b b b", and thence outside the hoop-skirt, because different fashions of hoop-skirts have dierent numbers of tapes, which must vary the number of cords, and consequently their particular arrangement in the tag a..

After coming through the tags b b b", the

cords pass through the skirt or petticoat, which is immediately outside the hoop-skirt, through small eyelets worked for the purpose; or the skirt may be made in two parts, the lower one to button on at the tags b' b" b", and then the cords can pass between the two portions.

The tag a, as before stated, is immediately beneath the opening on the left of the frontof the dress-skirt. By inserting the hand and pulling the cords thus united, they will raise all parts of the dress evenly, and then by simply tying a knot in the ends, the skirt is held 2. In Combination, with the subject of the first claim, the arrangement ofthe rings i fi on the skirt of the dress, as and for the purin place. When the knot is loosed, the skirt will easily and readily fall out to its full length again.

. To enable the cords to run easily in the poses set forth.

holes eyelets can be inserted.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The attachment to the hoop-skirt of tags to the tapes thereof, and the cords, as described, all constructed, arranged, and operating as and for the purposes indicated.

` L. G. PENNELL.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. CLIFFORD, GEORGE F. CLIFFORD. 

